Josh Miller is a sweaty man. Well, that’s the impression I got when I first met him. The U.S. producer for The Fight: Lights Out had been duking it out with other players at a recent San Francisco event for… Continue Reading →

Josh Miller is a sweaty man. Well, that’s the impression I got when I first met him. The U.S. producer for The Fight: Lights Out had been duking it out with other players at a recent San Francisco event for the game. The top of his bald head was covered in a sheen. He was winded but seemed to be enjoying himself.

He threw out jabs and hooks while holding a Move controller in each hand. He blocked punches by holding the controls near his face. He dodge by pressing a button and leaning in a direction. In a single fight, there’s a ton of movement, and after battling in one of the game’s 12 different venues, I realized that this game would be a workout. I even saw a calorie counter, an interesting touch that seemed to confirm my suspicions.

He asked if I wanted a go at it, and I couldn’t refuse. I first played this game at the unveiling of the Move at GDC in March. Since then, The Fight has come a long way. The developer, Coldwood Interactive, has added a split-screen mode along with ranked and unranked online multiplayer. There’s a betting component to these online matches, where players can watch a live, online fight and put money on the expected winner. The funds they earn gambling can be used for clothing and tattoos to customize their characters.

But before I got into my own match, I had to callibrate the controllers. The Fight actually reads how far your arms and incorporates this information when reading your movements. You can pretty much punch at whatever angle you want to. It captures one-to-one motion. Throw an uppercut and your fighter will do the same move. Start jabbing at your opponents face and the fighter will do it, too. The game even has head-tracking in certain light conditions. That means you can bob and weave, dodging strikes. The only problem is that there’s a certain rhythm players have to be accustomed to.

You can’t waggle the Move control and expect to be Muhammad Ali. The game reads punch motions with a full extension of the arms. It’s not about rapid movement, but strong punches thrown at a reasonable pace. It’ll definitely take players a while to adjust to the speed. In the meantime, they’ll be breaking a sweat and learning some dirty moves.

Although it has some elements with boxing, The Fight really isn’t a solely focused on the sweet science. In the single-player mode, gamers can learn dirty moves taught by the Duke, who is played byDanny Trejo, a former boxer himself. The dirty moves act as the game’s special moves, requiring an unusual movement and button combination. The dirty moves seem to have a wrestling flare about them with a spinning backhand, headlock and my favorite — the double-ax handle.

But players should be wary about using them. Although they’re more powerful, they do reduce the purse of your fight. Lastly, there are also finishing moves that players can perform at the end of the brawl. They aren’t dramatic as in Mortal Kombat. There’s no spine-ripping or heart-pulling-outing. (Yes, I’m made that word up.) It’s just a shove to knock someone down or an insulting slap to the face. If you do well enough in a single-player match and fulfill the “nailing it” requirements, you get a bonus of more money and special clothes.

When it comes to the basics of fighting, players have an energy bar, a stamina bar that goes down the more punches you throw in quick succession. That means you can’t just spam out jabs. There’s even a rage meter toward the side that determines how much damage your dirty moves do.

But the most important part of the HUD is your fighters skeleton. It shows what parts of your body are hurt by marking it in red. It’s imperative that players use their fight money to pay for healing between fights. If they don’t, they become more vulnerable in that area during the next match. For example, if you have the right side of your face in red, you could be open to a knock out the next time around.

As far as the gameplay goes, The Fight controls better than any other motion-controlled fighting games. There are a few bugs here and there. During one my fights, my arm ended up stuck in an outstretched position. But I’m hoping that Coldwood Interactive can fix that before the game launches. I also found it slightly annoying that I had to calibrate the Move controls between every match, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make if it means that I get one-to-one motions.

Those issues aside, The Fight is responsive enough to make me take notice. I’m sure I’ll break a sweat when I play more of the game later this month.